EUGENE — Inside Oregon's opulent football complex there is no low-lit, wood-paneled room reserved for members of the Ducks' proud quarterback fraternity.

Instead, what the quarterbacks share is a common link separated by the space of generations: the feeling of what it is like to line up behind center in an Oregon uniform.

What Norm Van Brocklin started in 1947, Bob Berry continued into the 1960s, and Dan Fouts helmed from 1970-72. Mike Jorgensen beget Chris Miller and Bill Musgrave in the 1980s, and from there the family tree's roots kept strengthening and its branches extending as wide as the spread offense that's turned out the newest chapter.

In an Oregon program that likes to say its best tradition is not having one, quarterback is nonetheless the through-line of Oregon's six-decade arc from Northwest also-ran to national power. Because of that prominence in Oregon lore, entry into the quarterback club means that you keep tabs on the latest members.

The latest, and now, possibly the greatest.

A survey of past Ducks QBs and others closely associated with the position reveals a consensus that Marcus Mariota is the best of them all entering his third, and likely final, season as starter before declaring early for the NFL draft this winter.

The Ducks quarterbacks who preceded Mariota view his accomplishments — such as his school-record career completion percentage, his 7,809 yards of total offense or 77 career touchdowns in two seasons — through a unique perspective as they know how hard it is to make the plays Mariota can make appear effortless.

They also know how hard it will be to keep up his torrid pace in 2014. With high expectations as a Heisman Trophy front-runner -- his odds to start the season are 5-to-1 -- and leader of a third-ranked national title contender, there is little margin for error. Oregon's top four receivers from last season are also gone, either to graduation or injury.

But if there's one person to do it, they like Mariota's chances.

"I saw something about the 'Mount Rushmore of Oregon quarterbacks,' but it shouldn't even be a Mount Rushmore," said Nate Costa, a letter-winner from 2009-10 and current graduate assistant for UO. "It should be a Statue of Liberty with Marcus' face on it."

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Ask who the greatest quarterback to play at Oregon is and the answers come back the same.

Though few, if any, watched Van Brocklin, his credentials as the 1960 NFL MVP, 13-year NFL coach and member of various halls of fame are invoked. Then comes the mention of Joey Harrington, who led Oregon to its first 10-win season in 2000, its first 11-win season a year later and became UO's first Heisman Trophy finalist. Also in the conversation is typically Akili Smith, who was the third overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft after scoring 45 touchdowns in two seasons, and Bill Musgrave, who led Oregon to the 1989 Independence Bowl, the program's first bowl in 26 years. Dennis Dixon was an anterior cruciate ligament away from a Heisman Trophy. If the quarterbacks take NFL careers into account, Fouts is a lock to be mentioned.

But in discussions with Jorgensen (1981-84), Chris Miller (1983-86), Danny O'Neil (1991-94), Tony Graziani (1993-96) and Costa (2006-10), the answers also include a "but."

"Akili might have accomplished more with less than any quarterback in school history," said former head coach Mike Bellotti, who recruited nearly every quarterback from 1989 to 2008, a run that spans O'Neil to Darron Thomas.

"But Marcus is, I think, the best, and I think it's already the time to say he's the best because of his winning percentage, accuracy and how he can break the big play."

Adds O'Neil: "Fouts was the best ever to be a quarterback at this school, but Marcus Mariota is doing things that Fouts could never imagine in running downfield."

It is a discussion, and a conclusion, foretold by none other than Harrington one year ago.

"There is no doubt it in my mind when he leaves, whenever that time comes," Harrington told The Oregonian last October, "he will be the greatest quarterback to ever play at Oregon."

The "but" is the quarterbacks' way of saying that Mariota combines elements of those who preceded him and folds them into his game. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Mariota's blend of precise mechanics and poise can leave them gushing.

Even after hobbling through the 2013 season's final two months with a knee injury, Mariota is on pace to set school records for career passing yards, total offense, completions and passing touchdowns, and enter UO's all-time top-10 in rushing yardage.

For the layman, the numbers are staggering. For a former quarterback, it's the details of how he's done it that require a double-take.

"First I look at arm strength, (Mariota) has that. Two, accuracy. He's extremely accurate," said Miller, the 13th overall pick in the 1987 draft and 10-year veteran of the NFL. "Three, he's got as dynamic and quick of a release as anyone in college. There's no wasted movement. You look for the leadership intangibles. Then he's tough, both mentally and physically."

For Jorgensen, Mariota has a gift similar to Harrington in his innate ability to gauge pocket pressure — whether from his peripheral vision or his internal "clock" — and sidestep it while keeping his eyes downfield.

"One of Marcus' true advantages to avoid that pressure is being an unbelievable athlete," Jorgensen said. "He's the best athlete to ever play this position at Oregon and that's saying a lot. There were some very, very good athletes and Marcus is above them all; he's so far above them it's not even funny."

What makes the former quarterbacks praise Mariota isn't his ability to pull off such feats as a third-year starter. It's that he was producing like this almost from his first game as a redshirt freshman, both behind closed practice doors — "he does something at practice every single day that's like, 'Wow,' " Costa said — and in games.

If Mariota's consistency and poise at such a young age first were noticed by the men who preceded him, the circle of believers widened in a hurry.

"I remember after the USC game down there in Marcus' redshirt freshman year (former USC defensive coordinator) Monte Kiffin, who coached me with the Buccaneers, came up to me and asked me, 'Did you know the quarterback was going to be that good?' " said Scott Frost, who can relate to Mariota as a former Heisman Trophy candidate at Nebraska saddled with national title expectations. Now Frost enters his second season as Mariota's coordinator.

"I'll probably never coach someone that good again. He was really, really good his first year."

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Inclusion into Oregon's quarterback tradition means a membership for life, a connection that supersedes changes in coaching staffs, distance and time.

As a graduate assistant, Costa retains the closest view of Mariota's progression by watching him daily in practice, yet other former quarterbacks remain close to the program, and thus, Mariota.

Before O'Neil moved from Eugene to Los Angeles three years ago, he was invited to watch coach Chip Kelly's speech to the team every Thursday. After those meetings, he'd come away as wowed by Mariota's laid-back attitude as his electric plays two days later.

"He's very impressive," O'Neil said. "Some of it is that he's a really good guy, he's humble and isn't making money signs after touchdowns like Johnny Football."

In recent years, too, Graziani has become friendly enough with Frost that the coordinator will invite the former quarterback into the video study sessions with the current crop of Ducks signal-callers.

"His dedication is amazing," said Graziani, who now lives in Bend, of Mariota. "When I was that young, I was just trying to stay in school."

The interactions between Mariota and Miller, West Linn High School's new coach after stints with South Eugene High School and the NFL's Arizona Cardinals in the past decade, are less formal. Sometimes Miller will shoot Mariota a text message "just telling him how impressed I am with him as a leader."

Given Mariota's choice, he would rather lead Oregon to its first national championship this season in the inaugural College Football Playoff than a first Heisman Trophy. But even if neither occurs, it appears Mariota's rarified place in Oregon's long tradition of talented quarterbacks is already secure.

"We're due here for a quarterback reunion here soon," Miller said. "Maybe after Marcus gets highly drafted, we need to have a quarterback gathering."